American Scene: Selections from

the Permanent Collection of American Art

Mint Museum of Art

April 12, 2008 through April 5, 2009

 

DON HARRIS. American, 1929-

Relic Hunter 1958

oil and casein paint on Masonite

18.5 x 36.5 inches

Museum Purchase from the 1st Annual Piedmont Purchase Award Exhibition. 1959.6.2 III.K.1

 

American Scene: Selections from the Permanent Collection of American Art features works by American masters from the first half of the twentieth century such as Charles Burchfield, Bernice Abbott, Thomas Hart Benton and Norman Rockwell. Paintings, prints, photographs and unique works on paper are all represented. American Scene: Selections from the Permanent Collection of American Art explores many areas that defined the American Scene Era: Social Realism, Regionalism and works created under federal programs such as the WPA. This is the first exhibition focusing on this genre drawn from the Mint Museum’s permanent collection of American Art in more than 15 years.

 

 American Scene exhibition page on the Mint Museum website

 

Social Realism

• Wooden, Howard E. American art of the Great Depression : two sides of the coin : Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas, October 27 through December 1, 1985. Wichita, Kan. : The Museum, c1985. N8838 .W66 1985
• McKinzie, Richard D. The New Deal for artists. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1973. N8838 .M32 1973
• Contreras, Belisario R., 1916-. Tradition and innovation in New Deal art. Lewisburg : Bucknell University Press, c1983.N8838 .C6 1983

Regionalism

• TFAO (Traditional Fine Arts Organization) - American Scene Painting and Regionalism
• The Museum of Art & Archaeology at the University of Missouri-Colombia has an American Regionalism: Visions from the Heartland page , which explains the movement and links to some of the artists in this exhibition

WPA

• A site which briefly defines the Works Progress Administration and links to numerous pages depicting WPA art by state.
• The New Deal Network, which features numerous examples of WPA art.
• The WPA Photograph Collection from the new Orleans Public Library

 

Artists in the Exhibition

Berenice Abbott

• Four pages of photographs from The New York Public Library's online exhibition, "Berenice Abbott: CHANGING NEW YORK 1935-1938" . Also, a brief biography.

 

Thomas Hart Benton

• Adams, Henry. Thomas Hart Benton : Paintings and Works on Paper. New York : Hammer Galleries 2004. N6537.B457 A4 2004. A brief biography and accompanying explanations of 22 works by Benton, all in color.
• Adams, Henry. Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original. Alfred A. Knopf: NY, 1989. ND237 B47 A84 1989. A detailed biography of the artist with chapters recording his life and art and 371 reproductions and photographs, 148 in color.
• Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975. Benton's America : works on paper and selected paintings : January 19 to March 2, 1991.New York, N.Y. : Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1991. N6537.B457 A4 1991 - Fourty six plates of drawings, studies and paintings by Benton.
• Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975. World War II through the eyes of Thomas Hart Benton. San Antonio, Tex. : Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, [1991?]. NC139.B45 A4 1991 - Twenty five World War II related works with text and a chronology of the artists life.
• Thomas Hart Benton : the America Today Murals. Williamstown, Mass. : Williams College, Museum of Art 1995. ND237.B47 A64 1985. Preliminary sketches, full color reproductions, and background about Benton's murals created at the begiining of the Depression which were in the New School for Social Research in Manhattan.
• Thomas Hart Benton and the American South. Augusta, Ga. : Morris Museum of Art, 1998. N6537.B455 A4 1998. Published in conjunction with the exhibition "On the Road with Thomas Hart Benton : Images of a Changing America."
• Information on Benton from the American Studies at the University of Virginia site which presents biography, gallery, and historical perspective on American Scene Painters.
• Ken Burns made a film about Benton - here are two clips from the movie from PBS.

 

Charles Burchfield

• Five of Burchfield's works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
• The Museum for Western New York Artists in Buffalo, NY has The Burchfield-Penney Art Center - About Charles E. Burchfield
• From the Treasures of the Archives of American Art, a four minute interview with Burchfield from 1959 (link to.mp3 file)
• Biography

 

Jon Corbino

• A 1942 Time Magazine article on the opening of Corbino's show at Manhattan's 57th street gallery.
• Corbino, Jon, 1905-1964. Jon Corbino, an heroic vision : a retrospective exhibition. St. Petersburg, Fla. : Museum of Fine Arts, c1987. ND237.C734 A4 1987

 

Minnie Deschamps

• The World of Minnie Deschamps exhibition at the Museum of Florida Art last year- .pdf document

 

Robert Gwathmey

• Kammen, Michael. Robert Gwathmey: The Life and Art of a Passionate Observer. University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, NC, 1999. N6537 G9 K36 1999 -"As a lifelong activist against injustice, Gwathmey was kept under surveillance by the FBI for nearly thirty years. Using Gwathmey's FBI file, along with numerous interviews and archival records, Michael Kammen crafts a compelling portrait of an engaging American painter in the midst of dramatic social and political change" With 48 color plates. Read chapter one here.

 

Rosalie Gwathmey

• New York Times article online - ENCOUNTERS; 'I Just Quit,' Rosalie Gwathmey Said. And She Walked Away. 1994

 

Hobson Pittman

• A Pennsylvania artists site has a short biography and an image of Pittman's.
• North Carolina Museum of Art. Hobson Pittman : retrospective exhibition, his work since 1920, February 2-March 3, 1963. Raleigh : [s.n., 1963]. ND237.P68 N6
• Pittman, Hobson, 1900-. The world of Hobson Pittman : a retrospective exhibition organized by the Pennsylvania State University. [S.l. : s.n., pref. 1972]. ND237.P68 P4

 

Norman Rockwell

• Official Site
• Norman Rockwell Museum
• Rockwell's America: Celebrating the Art of Norman Rockwell -January 19 – April 30, 2008 at Discovery Place in Charlotte

 

Burton P. Silverman

• Artist's website

 

John Sloan

• Biography from the Frye Art Museum in Seattle

 

Eugene Thomason

• Biographical information from the Spartanburg Art Museum, South Carolina.
• James, A. Everette (Alton Everette), 1938-. Eugene Healan Thomason : the Ashcan artist of Appalachia. New York : Vantage Press, c1987. ND237.T55184 J36 1987

 

 

 

Page Created by Joe Eshleman, Library Assistant for The Mint Museum of Art.

 

 

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